This invention relates to the field of peat moss, more particularly to improving the wettability of peat moss.
According to the current state of the art, surfactants are used commonly as wetting agents in the peat moss industry. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,937, Templeton describes the use of EO-PO polymers and silica to relieve hydrophobicity of peat moss, bark, and rockwool in soilless mixes used for plant growth, promoting easier, faster, and more even watering of such mixes without plant injury. Hagen, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,455,149, describes water swellable peat pellets including peat moss, a pH adjusting agent, a wetting agent, and an optional processing additive with a preferred bulk density of about 300 to about 600 kg/m3. The wetting agent can be nonionic surfactants such as copolymerized alkane oxides, for example ethylene oxide-propylene oxide copolymers (EO-PO). A peat moss composition having improved water holding capacity, hydrophilicity, and/or anti-leaching properties comprising one or more polysaccharides, for example guars and/or guar derivatives, is disclosed in Chen et al., U.S. Pat. Publ. 2013/0036668 A1, published on Feb. 14, 2013.
Outside of the field of peat moss, various soil additives have been used and proposed to prevent evaporation, promote seed germination, and reduce drainage, for example PCT/CN2011/073298 filed Apr. 26, 2011 describes introducing a bulk additive such as guars, unwashed or washed guar gum or polymers such as polyacrylamide and poly(meth)acrylic acid to a target soil area and contacting a top layer of the target soil area with a surface additive.
There is a need in this art for improved water holding and homogeneity of wetting of peat moss.